Saturday, August 6, 2011

My Garden In August

It seemed like spring was just here and then it is almost the end of summer. In my garden, I still have a few lilies blooming here and there. Some hostas were fried during the hot summer days and some that are growing in deep shade looked great. This is the time of year when some of the hostas bloom. The flowers are an added bonus to the wide varieties of their foliage, be it solid color or combinations of yellows, whites, greens and blues. Hosta plantaginea known as the August lily have their flower scapes peeking out of their foliage. Some of the fragrant hostas like Guacamole and Fried Green Tomatoes are blooming right now. There are also some perennials that are still blooming like Hemerocallis and Liatris. The late blooming native Rudbeckia hirta are blooming like crazy here and so are the Phlox.

I snapped some pictures of some of the plants this morning while it was drizzling. And some of them are taken like a few days ago when I get home from work early in the morning.

My LO lily Vandella is still blooming. This is the second bloom out of the two buds. This is its first season in my garden so two blooms is just fine.

Here is Distant Drum, a double oriental that when its flower first open, the center of the petals are a light green color with pink edges. Once the bloom ages, it will turn pink.

Here they are with Guacamole flowers in the background.

Siberia is a late blooming Oriental that I prefer over Casablanca with its upfacing flower and its slightly ruffled petals.

Another new addition to the garden is this OT lily named Garden Affaire. It has big white flower with golden throat.

A trio of Garden Affaire.

One of my favorite lily is Henryi. I love its green nectary.

Notice the papillae and the long stamen.

Here they are in our porch steps. I ran out of stakes so they are leaning against the railing.

Some are leaning to the ground. These lilies receive half day sun.

Black Beauty

The inflorescence of Black Beauty.

Miss Feya

Miss Feya

Miss Feya and Black Beauty are growing side by side in my garden. In comparison, Black Beauty's flower is smaller and recurved all the way whereas Miss Feya's is bigger and recurved halfway. Black Beauty's leaves are wider and darker compared to Miss Feya's. Color wise, Miss Feya is deep red while Black Beauty is leaning towards like dark cherry red.

And the very last lily to bloom here is L. Speciosum rubrum. Maybe in a couple of days its first bloom will open.

It is also Crinum season. A few of my crinums didn't bloom for me yet. Like Moorei, Powelli and Amarcrinums. They have been growing in pots for two years now. They were flowering size when I bought them. Perhaps their roots need to establish some more.

A close-up photo of Carolina Beauty.

The pink style and filament contrasted rather nicely with the white petals.

Elizabeth Traub

Elizabeth Traub

Ellen Bosanquet

Ellen Bosanquet

Leptinella x 'Platt's Black' groundcover, another new addition to the garden.

This pot got perfectly broken in half from the storm. I got this idea from The Sage Butterfly on her previous post. Here you can see my Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' for the illusion of spilling from the pots.

I love the color of Hosta 'Orange Marmalade' from the time it emerges in the spring until fall.

I can't help but share this photo of Hosta 'Fried Green Tomatoes' inflorescence.

Here is a combination of Yellow Splash Rim and Fried Green Tomatoes.

Hosta 'Pineapple Upside Down Cake' with Heuchera 'Palace Purple' in the background.

A pot of Sauromatum venosum.

I potted 10 Scadoxus multiflorus bulbs, 5 each pot late last spring. I envisioned that all of them will bloom at the same time but it did not happen.

I love how these Oxalis tetraphylla 'Iron Cross' has turned out. They grow so lush that I am tempted to grow other varieties of Oxalis.

A pot of Dahlias and Gladiola by our mailbox. I pot them up in mid-June. A bud formed on one of the Dahlias already. The Gladiola on the other hand will bloom 90 days after planting so I am waiting for mid-September blooms.

My Mirabilis jalapa is not blooming yet. It is growing by the side walk with Liatris spicata and of course with weeds. We are getting lots of rain here so quite naturally the weeds grow faster too.

Stunning photos as ever! I love the ones with a few drops of dew or rain on them, you should go pro.I grew L. henryi for the first time this year and thought I'd lost it, until I realised it was arching in such a way it was hiding its blooms in some orange Tropaeolums! Do you grow L. rosthornii? The two Lilies are so similar It must have bamboozled the taxonomists for years (good, that'll teach them to put Belamcamda into Iris but leaves Dietes as a distinct genus). They really are uncannily similar; the same green nectary as you so informedly describe it (I just said "stripe" in my blog on the subject). They both have those little raised nobbly bits (ahem), although my one henryi and two, multi-stemmed rosthorniis both have more of them. The only difference is a very vague lighter edge to the petals on the latter and a very slightly lighter shade of tangerine. You can compare the two here (http://theplantboy.blogspot.com/2011/07/luscious-lily-exposed-sexy-seedlings.html)

Wow, those are a lot of blooms, i wonder also how you can memorize their names. Amazing beauties and they seem so healthy. You must have a lot of space, is it possible to get a wide angle shot of your garden? Those lilies get a good sum here in the flower shops. Do you think those Hemerocallis will grow here, they are like the Hippeastrum don't they. BTW, your blood lilies seem to have loose flower umbel than mine which are very compact! AT any rate they are very beautiful.

You can never go wrong with Siberia and Uchida. Thanks for the nice compliment on my hostas.

@The Plantboy,

I have some Rosthornii, acquired them as bulblets. They are lost in the garden. The tag is there but can't tell which ones they are. I am waiting for them to bloom. Yeah, Henryi and Rosthornii are almost the same except they say that Rosthornii is shorter than Henryi and its filaments are longer and you pointed out their color difference. I believe that some breeders used Rosthornii as parent for lilies with 'black hearts'-black nectary. I read Charlie Kroell of USA and Anton Mego of Slovakia has some to die for hybrids. I got some Mego seeds that I can't wait to sow in winter.

I was reading informations about Dietes just the other day. I purchased the 'Bulb' book on Amazon and sat down for good one hour reading it. Tell me about the Taxonomists! I will check your post. I thought you stop blogging for good. Great to hear from you.

@ Ann,Thanks!

@Andrea,

Thanks. I don't know how I can memorize them either! But I think once a plant is added to my garden, it's like recorded in my memory permanently. :)

Oh yeah, I was talking to my sister how much a pot of Stargazer lily there. I could almost die!

Ha Xuan of Ton Suy Vien raised some hybrid Hemerocallis in Vietnam. Isn't it Philippines and Vietnam has the same weather?